


i'll bow out of place to save you some space for somebody new

by Hollstein1698



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Zeta Society - Freeform, mentions of Danny/Laura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 08:04:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3373949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hollstein1698/pseuds/Hollstein1698
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zeta Society bonding over lost love and pie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i'll bow out of place to save you some space for somebody new

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Sara Bareilles' "Manhattan"

Danny was sitting by herself in the nearly empty caf, and she probably looked a little bit deranged. She was scowling at a slice of cherry pie as though it had personally murdered her every family member. She had her arms crossed, sat ram rod straight, and she  _definitely_  looked a little bit deranged.

Danny had a plan. She was here today— _Pie Day_ —because she was going to prove to herself that she was completely over everything that had happened with Laura. To hell with the fact that Pie Day used to be _their thing_. Whatever. She was going to prove this to herself. She was  _going to_   _eat this pie_.

The unassuming dessert continued to silently mock her as she remained glowering and immobile. Clearly the devil pie still had more power over her than she thought.

“You’re totally starting to live up to your nickname, Psycho Society. What the hell did that piece of pie ever do to you?”

Danny spared a glance to her right to see Kirsch hovering by her table, frowning at her as though he was actually genuinely worried about her mental state. She scoffed, rolled her eyes, and ignored him. She didn’t have the time to have it out with Kirsch right now. She had a pie to conquer.

“Listen dude, I know the pie, like, has a rep around here, but I thought it was  _irresistible_  pie. Not pie that like, put you into a trance, or whatever.” Kirsch of course was taking her pointed silence as an invitation to sit down across from her, straddling the chair backwards. He cocked his head to the side, looking exactly like an inquisitive puppy, and Danny almost smiled. Almost.

“Or are you trying to set the pie on fire with your eyes? Cuz that would be pretty cool. Did the Alchemy dudes give you magic powers or something?”

Danny’s posture relaxed a little as she uncrossed her arms and shook her head, acknowledging Kirsch for the first time.

“Okay, um, I dunno dude, I’m running out of guesses.”

“You only guessed two things. That’s pretty sad.”

Kirsch smiled. “Oh well, at least you’re talking to me now. That’s something.”

Danny rolled her eyes again and let out a frustrated breath. “What do you want, Kirsch? I’m in the middle of something here.”

“Oh yeah. Right. I see you’re really busy, trying to communicate with a pie through your brain. What’s that called again? Like talking in a telephone, but in your brain—“

“Telepathy, dumbass.”

“That’s the one.”

“What do you  _want_ , Kirsch?” Danny repeated shortly.

He shrugged, and looked around the caf. “I was finishing dinner. I saw you over here and I thought maybe you could use an ear. Or a shoulder. Or something.”

Danny bristled. “I don’t need your ear  _or_  your shoulder. I’m fine.”

“You’re an honorary bro now, you know. It’s totally cool for bros to help each other out. Look out for each other and stuff—”

“See, that’s why you and your frat brothers drive me crazy. I don’t  _need_  your help, I don’t  _need_  you to look out for me, I don’t  _need_  some puppy in shining armor to save me. I’m perfectly fine on my _own_.” Danny had raised her voice, and the small amount of people that remained in the caf were starting to stare. Her cheeks reddened a little bit, but she kept her gaze stubbornly trained on the receiving end of her pent up frustrations.

Kirsch’s mouth turned downward, and he was clearly hurt, but he continued speaking evenly. “I know you can take care of yourself, Lawrence. I mean, anyone who can save me from a crazy powerful vampire can take care of themselves. I’m just, I dunno, trying to be like, supportive, or something. You looked upset.”

All Danny’s anger dissipated from her body at his concern, and now she just felt small, which was not something she was used to feeling. She shook her head and glanced down at the pie. “It’s Laura,” she mumbled under her breath, crossing her arms again. If she was going to spill her guts out to someone, she supposed there could be worse people to spill her guts out to. Kirsch annoyed her, but ever since the fight with the Dean, they had been getting along marginally better. Kind of.

“Laura got turned into a pie?” Kirsch exclaimed, jumping out of his chair. He lowered his face to the pie to shout, “Laura, it’s Kirsch, hang on okay, I’ll go get the Alchemy nerds to help you out. Come on, Psycho Society, what are you waiting for?”

This time Danny laughed. He was so  _dense_  sometimes. “No, you idiot. Laura didn’t turn into a  _pie_. I’m glaring at the pie _because_  of Laura. Or whatever.”

Kirsch’s brows knit together in concentration. “Oh,” he said, lowering himself back onto his chair. “What about Laura makes you hate pie?”

“I’m trying to prove that I  _don’t_  hate pie.”

“Dude, you’re not making any sense.”

Danny pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to calm herself before she chucked said pie at him. She let out a breath and continued speaking in her low, embarrassed voice. “Look, Pie Day used to be our thing. Every Wednesday, we had pie dates. And then all that stuff happened, and now she’s with The Snark Queen, and I don’t know, I thought I could prove to myself that I was over it.”

“So it’s like, symbolic pie?”

Danny blinked. “Uh, right.”

Kirsch grinned proudly. “I listen in class sometimes.” He shuffled his chair around so he was sitting on it properly now, and he leaned his head against his propped up hand. “You know, I had a thing for Laura when last semester first started.”

Danny rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I knew that. You were _so_  barking up the wrong tree there.”

He laughed. “Sorry, dude. I didn’t know. I’m not exactly good at picking up on those things. And besides, I met Sarah Jane soon after anyway. But yeah, like, for the first month of the semester, I had a huge thing for her. I can see why you’re so messed up about it. She’s totally hot, and smart, and like, really caring—“

“Kirsch, this isn’t exactly helping.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he waved his hands defensively. “Anyway, I just mean I get it. And I get losing a girl you really like too. It’s not the same thing or anything, but yeah. I get it.”

Danny felt a little selfish. Kirsch had to actually mourn his girlfriend, and she was sitting here trying to eat a pie like it was the hardest thing she’s ever had to do. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

He shrugged. “It’s okay.”

They both silently stared at the pie for a couple seconds before Kirsch said, “So. What went wrong there anyway? With Laura.”

“Oh. Besides the fact that Carmilla came swooping in with her  _seduction eyes_ … I don’t know. She said I was too… overprotective. Or something along those lines.”

Kirsch hummed thoughtfully. “You don’t like it when the Zetas are overprotective. So, like, you can’t really blame her, right?”

Danny remained quiet, thinking. She had never really thought of it like that before. The fact that Laura had looked up to her with something akin to hero worship was something she kind of always took for granted. And besides, she only ever thought of it as looking out for her, because she cared about her. But she guessed Kirsch was right. She had treated Laura just like the Zetas tried to treat the rest of the female student body (7.5 or higher) and now that she thought about it, she was really, really embarrassed and disappointed in herself. Both for treating Laura like a helpless child and for going off on Kirsch earlier.

Not that she was going to admit that to Kirsch. “Yeah, well. At least I never tried to get her drunk so she would sleep with me.”

“Hey! I’ve never done that before. Not cool, dude.” Kirsch looked appropriately disgusted at the thought, and she was almost proud of him.

She brought her gaze back down to the pie slice. It looked a little less scary now than it had before Kirsch showed up. And even though she originally had wanted to conquer the pie on her own, maybe sharing it wasn’t such a bad idea.

She picked up her fork and tapped it on the pie plate a couple times. “Well. Are you gonna help me eat this stupid thing, or what?”

Kirsch smiled. “You wanna share the pie with me, Lawrence?”

She shrugged. “Maybe you helped me out, or whatever. I guess I did need to use your ears.”

He picked up the other fork and dug into the pie with gusto. “Thanks, dude.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

They finished the pie in what was probably record time. It really was suspiciously addicting.

“So, like...” Kirsch wiped the crumbs off his mouth with the back of his hand and stood up. “The Zetas and the Swim Team have this swim competition thing on Thursdays. It’s totally fun. You should come tomorrow. If you want.”

Danny grinned. “Yeah, sure. Especially if I have a shot at kicking your ass.”

He laughed. “You wish, dude. And besides, it’s Zetas versus the Swim Team, so like, you would be swimming for our side. Honorary Zeta, remember?”

“You keep trying to remind me,” Danny groaned, “I really rather just forget all about that. But you know, whatever. I’ll go. Sounds like it could be potentially not boring.”

“Cool. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He held up his hand in farewell.

“Bye, Kirsch.”

“Bye, Danny.”

She watched him leave with a smile, and it wasn’t until he was gone that she realized he had called her by her first name. Her smile widened and she left the caf without a single backwards glare at the now empty pie plate.

**Author's Note:**

> I really couldn't get the image of Danny and Kirsch bonding over their mutual Laura feels out of my head.


End file.
